1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improvement in an indexing mechanism for registering and advancing a clip structure and to an improvement in a gun for projecting hygienic ballistic implant projectiles and for shooting marking projectiles for animal care and management functions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art discloses various clip and gun structures facilitating the successive firing of projectiles. One patent in particular relating to a gas-operated pellet gun utilizing a clip for feeding pellets to the gun is U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,189, issued June 26, 1973, to Kester and Hughes. The gas-operated gun of this patent utilizes a clip which holds a plurality of pellets. The clip is designed to be placed in the gun and when the clip is in position in the gun the pellets are indexed automatically into firing position each time the manually operated bolt is retracted. The gun has a reciprocable hammer and a rotatable indexing means for indexing the clip. A manually reciprocable cocking mechanism will operate the indexing mechanism to index the clip when cocking the hammer. The gun of the Kester and Hughes invention utilizes an obturator which penetrates the clip to drive the pellet therefrom and into the bore of the gun. When the bolt is again retracted, however, even before firing, the clip is indexed. A gas valve allows a supply of compressed gas to escape upon release of the hammer to fire the pellet from the gun.
Other patents relating to gas-operated guns for the firing of projectiles include U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,298, issued Jan. 29, 1974 to Hale. This patent discloses a pistol for firing hollow plastic or gelatin balls filled with a liquid such as paint for marking animals, trees, or other objects. In this patent a supply of balls is supported to be moved by gravity into the firing chamber.
Other patents relating to clips for pellets designed for implant in an animal include U.S. Pat. No. 3,520,299, issued July 14, 1970 to Lott et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,104, issued June 13, 1972 to Wyatt et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,607, issued Nov. 27, 1973 to Schmitz. The implant devices of these structures utilize a needle through which the pellet is driven after the needle is inserted beneath the skin of the animal. In each of these devices a plunger, operated by a trigger, is utilized to drive the pellet from the needle. The pellets however are supplied to the implant gun by a suitable clip or magazine-type cartridge. The clip in each of these patents is circular and U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,607 discloses a structure wherein the line of travel of the plunger 20 can be observed by the operator to determine whether a cylinder of the cartridge is directly aligned with the plunger and whether that cylinder contains pellets. The magazine-type cartridges described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,520,299 are adapted to be advanced mechanically upon movement of the plunger such that successive magazine apertures are aligned with openings in the case. A detent is provided on the case for preventing movement of the magazine relative to the case in the direction opposite to its advancing direction. This structure is similar to the indexing mechanism of Kester et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,189.
The clip and indexing structure of the present invention permit the same to be readily inserted and removed from the gun without damaging the aseptic seals on the chambers housing the projectiles. The clip is indexed into position upon reciprocation of the breechblock and a projectile is placed in the firing chamber after the hammer is cocked. Subsequent operation of the breechblock before the hammer is released will not permit indexing of the clip. This restricts the loading of more than one projectile in the firing chamber.
The clip is structured to permit its easy insertion and removal and is formed to be inserted and removed by movement of the clip in only one direction in relationship to the housing of the gun,
The gun has two barrels from which to fire projectiles, One barrel for the nonlethal ballistic implantation of a projectile from the clip totally within a living animal body to release a biologically active material in the animal body and a second barrel to fire a marking projectile against the animal body which will rupture upon impact.
The gun has a compressed gas valve with two chambers and two hammer-operated release valves for releasing gas from each chamber into an associated barrel. One chamber is connected to the barrel for implanting a projectile and when it is exhausted the second chamber is still charged to fire a projectile from the marking barrel.